'Puters

[Partial]

meanwhile, my T42, bought used off a 6mo. lease (one of the 1st centrino processors), has got a new hard drive. That's it. My IBM is clearly a better machine in all aspects. It isn't even close. The VAIO has a catchy purplish cover and a cool logo. But, there isn't anything else to back the bling up with.

But the Thinkpad isn't made by IBM anymore. I don't even know what I'm looking for in graphics cards.

Skin, are the new ones backward compatible with CS2?

The new what? Any graphics will be sufficient. You're not doing 3D rendering so I'm sure integrated graphics will be more than adequate.

[MJZiggy]

The Dells he recommended. I'm wondering if they're backward compatible.

[Partial]

The Dells he recommended. I'm wondering if they're backward compatible.

Backwards compatible with what? CS2? Sure, they definitely are. Any computer is. I would really look into the Mac, though. I would not lead a person astray.

[SkinBasket]

Well, retail and I both have 1st hand experience with Sony products and both agree that Vaio suck ass. That's about as concrete an anti-endorsement as you're going to get.

These days, I go disposable over fancy on any computer, cuz they all be the same - just metal and plastic. And what Pizzy said about backward compatibility - no worry.

[retailguy]

CS4 requirements are here:

http://www.adobe.com/products/photos...?promoid=DRHXB

here's the graphics requirement:

1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card


pretty basic requirements, if you stay away from the really low end laptops, you'll be ok, I'd think. The low end ones would probably still run it, but you wouldn't be too thrilled with the performance, most likely.

P, she said she didn't want a mac. Give it up. There are plenty of PC's that are really nice, let's just help her get one, ok?

[Scott Campbell]

I'm thinking about this one for my wife.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152116

[SkinBasket]

Ziggy, don't forget that you have until the 11th of July to preorder the Windows 7 upgrade for $50 (for Premium) or $100 (Professional). Just make sure that whatever you order has Windows Premium or Professional (not Ultimate) and that you preorder the matching upgrade. Price goes up to $120/$200 after the 11th.

Premium: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DHLUWK

Professional: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wind.../dp/B002DHGM50

[Patler]

I have this one, and I am very pleased with it:

[Partial]

Ziggy gets an education discount so it will be 5 dollars at most to upgrade to Windows 7. I personally still think Windows 7 is garbage and is a painful experience to work in, though. It almost has an Apple dock, though, so it keeps a lot of your stuff out of the way, which is a step in the right direction towards being bearable.

[Patler]

Ziggy, don't forget that you have until the 11th of July to preorder the Windows 7 upgrade for $50 (for Premium) or $100 (Professional). Just make sure that whatever you order has Windows Premium or Professional (not Ultimate) and that you preorder the matching upgrade. Price goes up to $120/$200 after the 11th.

Premium: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DHLUWK

Professional: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wind.../dp/B002DHGM50

What are the general differences between the different versions of Windows 7?

[falco]

What is better about Windows 7 over XP? I have been using XP since it came out and it works just fine for me.

That being said, I think my next purchase will be a Dell laptop with Ubuntu.

[falco]

Also, my wife has Macbook and it sucks. I don't know how anyone could use one.

[SkinBasket]

Ziggy, don't forget that you have until the 11th of July to preorder the Windows 7 upgrade for $50 (for Premium) or $100 (Professional). Just make sure that whatever you order has Windows Premium or Professional (not Ultimate) and that you preorder the matching upgrade. Price goes up to $120/$200 after the 11th.

Premium: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DHLUWK

Professional: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Wind.../dp/B002DHGM50

What are the general differences between the different versions of Windows 7?

I don't know. I just get what's on the computer and use it. I haven't found any problems using Vista Ultimate for all the doomsday talk about the OS. It never crashes and it puts icons of my programs on the desktop. I click them and the program starts. That's all I need. The weather and XM sidebar widgets are nice though.

[hoosier]

Vista Enterprise seems to have resolved all of the problems that earlier versions of vista had, and IMO is far more efficient than XP. Once you get used to the silly little changes Micosoft has made with Vista, it's a delight to use.

[Partial]

Ha! Delight? If you guys think using Vista/7 is a pleasure, you should try a Mac. Wow!

[retailguy]

I'm thinking about this one for my wife.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152116

I bought a hard drive from New Egg about 3 months ago. I don't use that debit card very much, and hadn't used it in about 3 months. Within a week, I had $500 in unauthorized charges.

I made the purchase while at work, behind the office firewall, and on my work machine which gets virus/spyware/malware scanned daily. I have yet to find any kind of intruder on that machine.

I don't buy from New Egg anymore.

[Patler]

Microsoft's comparisons of the different versions of Windows 7:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...mpare-editions

[Partial]

I'm thinking about this one for my wife.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152116

I bought a hard drive from New Egg about 3 months ago. I don't use that debit card very much, and hadn't used it in about 3 months. Within a week, I had $500 in unauthorized charges.

I made the purchase while at work, behind the office firewall, and on my work machine which gets virus/spyware/malware scanned daily. I have yet to find any kind of intruder on that machine.

I don't buy from New Egg anymore.

I've bought over 100 products from NewEgg and never had a single problem. That is very bizzare. They're by far the de facto online computer store. I <3 them!

[retailguy]

I'm thinking about this one for my wife.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834152116

I bought a hard drive from New Egg about 3 months ago. I don't use that debit card very much, and hadn't used it in about 3 months. Within a week, I had $500 in unauthorized charges.

I made the purchase while at work, behind the office firewall, and on my work machine which gets virus/spyware/malware scanned daily. I have yet to find any kind of intruder on that machine.

I don't buy from New Egg anymore.

I've bought over 100 products from NewEgg and never had a single problem. That is very bizzare. They're by far the de facto online computer store. I <3 them!

It is very surprising. I don't quite know what to make of it.

I've had a debit card cloned twice. The other time was 5 years ago. Thinking back, I was purchasing a lot of network hardware at the time (I think) and I bought all that from New Egg too.

I don't know. Seems bizarre, but I've been through the bank statement 5 times with the bank on the phone. My wife and I both have debit cards, she uses hers all the time, but the fraud came from my card, and the previous transaction was over 90 days prior, and hadn't been used since.

I had our IT folks come up and manually scan the PC, nothing was found. I checked the scan logs, and nothing had been deleted by the machine either.

I can't explain it.

[MJZiggy]

I think I'm more confused than when I started...but thanks everyone for the suggestions whether offered here or privately. I'm leaning toward the Dell outlet...I just have to figure out which what I should get and how much (if any) I'm saving on it.